Family
by sapphermine
Summary: Mannencentric. Auish. Mannen suddenly remembers the terrible past. Will the others help him realize he has a family to come home to? Or will they keep him in the dark forever?


I guess I've said all there is to say in the summary. But… I'll just explain further. Himeno's house is under major refurnishing and the children are forced to stay in other's care. Mannen is placed under the wing of Kei and he doesn't like it. And the darkness makes him remember things he never wanted to recall. Wah! I'm telling the whole story if I continue! So, read on and enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Mannen isn't mine. So are the other Leaf Knights. I'm just borrowing them for fun.

Family 

Chapter 1: Darkness

Mannen pouted at Kei. Kei sipped his tea, looked at Mannen pointedly and continued his work.

Mannen began grumbling. Kei sipped his tea, rolled his eyes and continued his work.

Mannen began spinning his swivel chair. Kei sipped his tea, breathed in and out and continued his work.

Mannen takes out a cookie out of his pocket. Kei sipped his tea, stared at his picture to concentrate and continued his work.

Mannen crunches noisily on his cookie. Kei sipped his tea, grabs the cookie and continued on his work.

Mannen stares dejectedly at Kei, opens his mouth and shouts. Kei sipped his tea… And found it was empty.

"Mannen! Will you please just shut up for a while! I'm trying to work here!"

"I don't get it Kei! Why did you bring me here! Is it for revenge! That I be bored as hell! There was no point in bringing me here at all! You must've figured out that I would be bored, didn't you! There's absolutely nothing to do here, Kei! You should've left me at your apartment! At least I would've found something to do there!"

Kei ran a hand through his blonde hair, "Do you honestly believe I would trust you to stay in my home! Not a chance in the world, kid."

"Hey! I am not a kid!"

"Well, you're certainly acting like one to me. Please, prove me I'm wrong, Mannen. I'd love to see the day you'd actually and truthfully be grown up."

Mannen crossed his arms over his chest and looked away without saying another word.

On a usual day, Mannen would've continued on with this pointless banter, just like he'd always do with Goh. On a usual day, Mannen would scream and shout and pout at him until they both grew tired. On a usual day, Mannen wouldn't shut up. But today…

Kei frowned at Mannen. Was there something wrong? Is something bothering Mannen? Kei wiped the thoughts out of his head. Mannen is Mannen. There would be nothing wrong. And if something were bothering the kid, it would be trivial and pointless. Just like always.

Kei shook his head and continued working.

The day ended that way. It was the most miraculous time of Kei's life. He couldn't believe that Mannen would and could actually shut up and sit still! He didn't look back at Mannen while they were both going back to his home. If he had though, he would've seen a particularly strange expression on the younger knight's face. It was off on him, especially because he was usually so hyper and energetic. Kei never looked back to check, of course.

88

Kei opened the door and went in. Mannen did, too. They had bought food along the way, simply because Kei couldn't cook and Kei didn't trust Mannen with his kitchen at all. Even if they were practically brothers, given that Kei had been there when Mannen was growing up, they kept silent during their meal.

The older knights weren't there when Mannen was born, though. Contrary to what others believed, Mannen really had been born into a family. A family he never wanted to remember.

Kei stood up, took his plate, washed the dishes and left without another word. When Mannen heard the door to Kei's office, he knew Kei would continue on his research or whatever it is Kei was doing.

Mannen smiled as he shook his head, "He's a genius, yes, but a real workaholic. No wonder he hasn't gotten himself a girlfriend yet." He stood up afterwards, washed the dishes he used and took a bath before going to sleep.

He sighed as he laid himself down on the bed. Covering himself with the blankets, he couldn't help but stare at the darkness around him with a bit of trepidation. He had never really liked the dark. So when they lived in Himeno's house and he had shared a room with Hajime and Shin, he couldn't help but get scared most of the time. The room was always dark. Both Shin and Hajime liked the room to have no light. He had known this, of course, that both of his best friends couldn't sleep with the lights on. So when they were choosing which beds they liked, he had deliberately chosen the bed nearest the window. He made the excuse that he chose the one nearest the window so he could keep the others safe when someone unwelcome would try to get in from there. That was near impossible to happen, really. But Hajime and Shin had believed him.

Kei didn't like the lights turned on at night. Mannen remembered Kei had told him that keeping the lights open at night was a waste of resources. Why leave it open when no one's really going to use it? Kei had given him this sermon during his first stay. Mannen had kept the lights on and when Kei finally got out from his office to sleep, he had been pissed to see the lights in Mannen's bedroom still open. After that, he hadn't dared open the lights at night again. Even if everyone believes so, Mannen never really wanted the older knights to get mad at him, never really wanted them to be disappointed at him. But no matter what he did, it just comes off as "bad" or "mischief" or "trouble".

Truth be told, whenever they'd call him _kid_ and he'd reply back, _'I'm not a kid!'_ all he ever really wanted to prove to them was that he was capable of taking care of himself. He's 10 and he knows he is still a child. But really, what has that got to do with everything? Even a child can be responsible. A child can be trusted to do an important job once in a while. Sometimes, even, a kid like Shin can see things more clearly, knows what the real matters of consequence are. And he was a Liefe Knight for crying out loud! He was –is- more responsible than the average kid.

Mannen sighed again. He wouldn't be able to sleep if he continues to think so much.

He rolled over, forced himself to think of happy thoughts and went to sleep.

88

Kei woke up on the wrong side of the bed a few weeks after. He didn't do the usual things he did. He merely got out of bed, brushed his hair, walked to the dining room, sat and ate. Mannen was there already. Kei took one look at him and grunted, "I hate kids." Mannen seemed unaffected by Kei's comment and merely began to eat the food he had heated from the other day. Kei ate that, too.

"Mannen, you're going with me today."

Mannen looked up from his meal, frowned and said, "Huh? But you left me here for the past few days and now you're making me go with you! The hell, Kei! It's boring there!"

Kei's frown deepened, "If I say you're going with me, Mannen, then you're going with me! Don't argue with me because you don't have a right to do so! I'm the adult here so don't go talking to me as if I were on your level because I'm not. Just be thankful I agreed to let you stay with me. Both Sasame and Goh didn't even want you! You're lucky Hayate convinced me you aren't such a bad kid. And I've tried, Mannen… I've tried to see what's so good about you. But guess what? Until now, I haven't found something in you to be proud of! Really, the only reason we ever put up with you was because you're a Liefe Knight. And if everyone weren't so compassionate and pitiful, you'd have found yourself homeless when the misunderstanding with Takako was over."

Mannen found himself unable to speak.

Kei… Everyone… Was that how everyone thought of him?

Mannen grit his teeth and forced himself not to cry. He had already cried too much. It was enough. That was enough. But everything Kei had told him had hurt. Try as he might, he couldn't shake off the feeling anymore.

So he averted his gaze below and kept silent.

Kei didn't even notice Mannen's change in behavior for the rest of the day. He had been too stressed about his deadlines and the like. Mannen didn't know that, of course. He didn't know Kei had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. He didn't know it was all due to stress. He just didn't know. And what you don't know couldn't hurt you a lot.

Mannen had kept unusually silent for the rest of the week. And every night, he'd wish the business with Himeno's house would be over and they'd finally be able to leave him alone, the older knights wouldn't have to worry about him or would they have to keep an eye on him. Mannen had cursed continually Kaoru's idea of remodeling the house and painting it anew. It placed him here. In Kei's care. Shin had been taken under the wing of Sasame and Hajime had gone with Goh. Hayate had gone with Himeno, of course, and was probably living in a luxurious hotel somewhere.

88

It was evening again. Mannen always dreads the night. Not because he's afraid of the boogeyman or anything, but because of the memories. It was at night they all came out. It was during the night, when his mind wasn't thinking, when he shouldn't think of anything to be able to sleep, that his mind would recall everything. He didn't do it consciously. The darkness just really reminded him of the past.

Mannen kept twisting and turning on his bed. It was raining this night. And it was cold. Mannen hated the cold…

"_He's a monster, they say…"_

"_Un, just look at him. He looks so strange."_

"_I can't believe a kid like this exists! He must be a terrible, terrible child to have."_

"_They also say he killed his own mother, can you believe that! A killer at birth."_

"_If that's so… He's a monster, no doubt. A monster…"_

Mannen shut his eyes tightly, hugged and curled himself into a ball, forcing the voices to stop in his head. It didn't work, of course. Nothing did. Mannen would turn on the lights or go outside to walk in both Himeno's and where he had stayed before with the others if the voices wouldn't stop like this, if the memories wouldn't hold back, if he couldn't do anything about it.

But he was in Kei's apartment. And Kei didn't want the lights turned on. But…

But he was really, really scared now. Maybe, maybe just this once…

So he got up and walked to Kei's office. He stood by the door hesitantly, afraid he'd anger Kei even more; afraid he'd do something terribly annoying. He bit his lip, tried to quell the pounding of his heart and knocked.

"Kei?"

There was no answer. So he knocked again, louder this time, "Kei?"

He heard shuffling in the room and then footsteps and then the doorknob turning and finally he saw Kei.

"What is it now?"

Mannen flinched a bit by Kei's tone but went unnoticed. Kei had always used that tone, cold and indifferent.

"Well?" Kei demanded.

"I… I was just wondering that maybe if… Maybe if I can keep the lights on for the night." He looked up to see Kei's expression. When Mannen saw slight annoyance, he quickly said, "Just this night, Kei! I promise!"

Kei frowned but a smirk was forming on his lips, "Afraid of the dark, Mannen?"

Mannen flinched and stared on the floor. Kei saw it clearly this time and knew for certain now that the first one wasn't his imagination. Something really was wrong with Mannen, "Mannen, is there something wr—,"

But Mannen quickly smiled up at him and said, "It's all right, Kei. I won't turn the lights on. I'm a big kid now, right?" And he promptly went back to bed. Kei looked on, concerned.

No matter how much he keeps on saying he hates children, no matter how many times he keeps on saying those in front of Mannen and no matter how much he keeps on an air of indifference, he never really meant all of it. Mannen… There was something wrong with him. And Kei had no idea what it was. He considered going to check up on the kid coz even if he calls himself and makes himself like an adult, Mannen isn't. A child. That's what he was now. In truth, Kei was pretty concerned. Almost always during the past battles, too. Shin, Hajime and Mannen… All three of them still are children. And all three have every right to have the happy childhood even the older knights had.

Kei sighed as he raked a hand through his hair. This was tough. Dealing with children wasn't his forte. In fact, dealing anything closely related to emotions weren't his forte either. That was Sasame's job. But he isn't here. And he was probably busy taking care of Shin.

No matter how much he wanted to know what was bothering the child, he couldn't bring himself to it. He was afraid. Afraid he'd open the wound more; afraid he'd hurt Mannen more. That was almost always what happens anyway. And he didn't want that.

Shaking his head, he walked to where Mannen's room was and stood by his door. Looking sadly at it he whispered, "I wish you'd know how much everyone cares for you, Mannen. You can talk to me. And I'll try my best to understand you, try my best to comfort you. Because no matter what you think… You're still family."


End file.
